HOUSTON -- The Harris County Sheriff’s Office was slapped with a big civil rights lawsuit on Thursday. The five plaintiffs include the Ibarra brothers, a local business owner and a judge.

Business owner Loyd Henderson is one of the plaintiffs. His company’s own security camera captured an exchange between him and a Harris County deputy. The video shows Henderson behind the counter, reaching for his license when -- without warning -- the deputy grabs Henderson and shoves him against the counter and onto the ground before handcuffing him.

And it was Henderson who called the sheriff’s office for help when someone broke into his store.

Henderson’s wife watched the whole thing and ran to get help from a second deputy, who was already on the way into the business. It was that deputy who took the cuffs off Henderson and instructed everyone to leave.

Since the incident last October, Henderson has filed an internal affairs complaint, but has never been told if anything was done to discipline the deputy who went over the line.

That’s why he joined into the lawsuit that alleges abuse at the hands of deputies. The lawsuit also calls for the immediate resignation of Sheriff Tommy Thomas and asks a federal judge to take authority over the agency.

April Walker is also a part of the lawsuit. The criminal law professor and Houston municipal associate judge was arrested after she called the sheriff’s office for help.

"I have a life to lead. I'm trying to pick up my life and go forward. And now I have to deal with this,” said Walker. “I don't like this. I don't want to deal with this. It is very upsetting. It is very troubling."

Walker called 911 after a dispute with neighbors. When the deputy arrived on scene, Walker claims he threw her to the ground and handcuffed her in front of her kids.

The charge? Impersonating a public servant.

A charge that was later dismissed because, as it turns out, she is a public servant. But her troubles aren’t over because now she has been charged with assaulting a police officer during that same incident at her home.

Sean and Erik Ibarra are also a part of the lawsuit. They are the two men who were arrested while video taping deputies as they arrested a neighbor.

They sued over that incident and reached a settlement with the county. They joined in the latest lawsuit after it was revealed that the sheriff’s office was secretly spying on them while their initial lawsuit was working its way through the court.

Their attorney said the lawsuit shows there is a pattern of abuse within the sheriff’s office.

“This is too many incidents to be a coincidence. They are using the system to abuse citizens who complain against them,” said attorney Lloyd Kelley. "What is this? A campaign of terror and a campaign of harassment of people who complain."

As for the sheriff’s office?

"At this time, the sheriff categorically denies any and all allegations made in that lawsuit. Sheriff Thomas is personally named as a defendant in that lawsuit and for that reason he has no comment on the matter at this time,” said Harris County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Lt. John Martin.

Walker has plenty to say and will do so before a grand jury next month.

"On June 19th I have to go before a grand jury because they say I assaulted a police officer. I was in handcuffs. I'm a hundred fifteen pounds they had guns,” she said.